Hydraulic-mining machinery



Sept. 22, l 925.

A. M. GARCIA HYDRAULIC MINING MACHINERY Filed Aug'. 26, 1924 3Sheets-Shea?l INVENTOR Y C O anco M. Gm@ a,

BY Q .3.3M

ATTORNEY Ant Sept. 22, 1925.

A. M. GARCIA HYDRULIC MINING MACHINERY Filled Aug. 26, 1924 5Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTO! Anion 0' M .l Garcct,

Y @WKQJLMHL ATTORNEY Sept. 22,

Af M. GARCIA HYDRAULIC MINNG MACHINERY Filed Aug. 26

5 Sheets-Sheet J Anion/a M .Gaz'c a ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 22, 1925.

ANTONIO M. GARCIA, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA.

HYDRAULIC-MINING MACHINERY.

Application iled August 26,A 1924. Serial No. 734,207.

To all whom t mayv concer/n:

Beit known that I, ANTONIO M. GARCIA,

a citizen oi' the United States, residing at` Stockton, county otA SanJoaquin, rState ot California, have invented certain new 'and usefulImprovements in I'Iydraulic-Mining Machinery; and I do declare thefollowing to bev a full, clear, and eXact description of the same,reference being -had to the accompanying drawings, and to the charactersof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application. lThis invention relates to improvements in machinery used in connectionwith hydraulic mining operations to treat and handle the loose rock andgravel which accumulate with the hydraulicking operations. n g

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an apparatus for thepurpose arranged to receive such loose material, to segregate the rockfrom kthe gravel, segregate and save any precious metal which the gravelmay contain, and finally to provide for the carrying away of the gravelas it accumulates in the apparatus so thatit will not vreturn to thestream in or adjacent Y which the initial hydraulicking operations takeplace.

The use oit' this apparatus in connection with hydraulic miningtherefore eliminates a serious objection to the same as ordinarilycarried out; namely, thereturning of the gravel to the stream, andtheaccompanying clicking up of the bed of the stream, sometimes atconsiderable distancesy from? the source of operation, where it forms anobv struction to navigation.

'A further object is; to arrange bins on the apparatus for the receptionof the gravel, disposed adjacent an industrail railway track oi' theusual character, and provide means, operable automatically upon themovement of cars to a point adjacent the bins, to cause the contents oia bin to be discharged into the cars. Y Upon the withdrawal of the carsfrom such position, the exit to the bins is automatically closed. Thisenables the gravel to be loaded and hauled away without `any -attendantbeing neces sary` and permits of the gravel being very quickly andcheaply disposed oi.

This latter teaturewill also be ot valuey in sand and gravel plants,iii-.which the materials ofvarious kinds are stored in bins, anddischarged into the cars through relatively small hand controlledoutlets.

,A further object of the invention is to produce a simple andinexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective forthe purpose for which it is designed.

j These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement ot parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.`

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views: V

Fig. l is a side elevation ot the structure, partly in section.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, also partly in section. Y n

Fig. 3 isa partial top plan view of the device, broken out at one end.

Referring nowY more particularly to the characters or reference on thedrawings, the numeral l denotes an elevated sluieeway, having a downwardslant toward one end, and supported a suitable distance vfrom the groundby a framework of uprights 2.

Mounted adjacentthe` upper end of the sluice is asubstantiallyhorizontal rotatable drinn 3, open at both ends, its periphery beingormedof longitudinal bars 4. The rock and gravel are placed in the drumat one end, water being present in some quantity. rlhe large rocks andthe like discharge at the opposite end of the drum, which'has a downwardslant fromfend to end,v and drop down to the ground. The finer materialpasses through the bars and remains on the sluice. Just beyond the drumthe bottom oi the sluice is perforated as at 5, and under saidperforated'portion is an enclosed catch basin 6 into which any blackSandi and the like passes from the sluice and settles, to be withdrawnat will through an outlet 6. The coarser gravel passes down the sluiceover transverse ritfles 7 of common character and for the well knownpurpose of catching any gold a certain distance into the sluice. rllhismember is arranged to be moved to one side or the other of the sluice,so as to cause the gravel and water coming down the same to pass to oneor the other of the bins. The member 10 may also be set centrallybetween the side walls of the sluice, so that both bins will lill at thesame time.

A water settling-tank 11 is mounted at the opposite ends of the bins. Ascreened intake 12 having a flap valve 13 or similar .device openingtoward said tank, provides communication between said bins and tank. Inthis manner, water may be separated from the gravel in the bins, andwhen the latter are emptied, the water cannot return to the gravel.

Each bin has a downwardly opening hinged bottom 14, whose opening andclosing is controlled in any suitable manner, such as by a windlassstructure 15.

A discharge chute 0r hopper 16 Common to both bins and havinglongitudinally spaced outlets 17, is disposed under the bins.

Dumping buckets 18 pivol'ed on a shaft or trunnions 19 are mounted underthe chuteoutlets. These buckets are so arranged that when in raisedposition, the outlets 17 are ope-n and discharge into the buckets. .Vhenthe buckets are tilted down and forwardly to a dumping position, theirrear sides close the outlets. The buckets are also so disposed relativeto their pivots that they tend to dump of themselves, especially whenloaded.

To normally prevent this tendency, I fix a lug Q0 on one end of theshaft 19, which, when the buckets are in an upright and loadingposition, projects in a rearward horizontal plane. A roller 21 thenrides on top of said lug, the roller being mounted on an arm 252 pivotedintermediate its ends. To the lower end of this arm is pivoted the upperend of one arm of a bell crank 2B, to the lower end of the opposite armof which is connected a link 24e to the lower end of which in turn isconnected a short piece of track 25, formed as a portion of one of therails 26 of an ordinary industrial railway, and pivoted at one end inalinement with such rail. A counterweight 27 is connected by a cable 2Sto the lower end of the arm. 22 and acts to keep the roller 21 engagedwith the lug Q0, and the rail section 25 tilted upwardly. lt willtherefore be seen that if a car Q9 on the tracks approaches the section25 from the lower end thereof and a. wheel i0 thereof rides on saidsection, the later will be depressed, and the roller moved clear of thelug 20.

The buckets are then free to dump and will do so, the rail depressinglaction taking place just as the cars (of which there would be two, onefor each chute outlet) move directly under the buckets. The cars willthen be instantly loaded, as will be obvious, the capacity of the carsand buckets being preferably about equal.

Since the buckets will then remain dumped unless some means is providedto raise the same, I employ the following structure: Fixed on the shaft19 on the opposite end thereof from the lug 2O is a pinion 31 engaged bya segmental gear S2 pivoted in a fixed position with respect to saidshaft. A horizontal arm 33 projects outwardly from said gear and at itsouter end thereto has a rod 31 or the like which entends down to a railsection 35 pivoted in alinement with and forming a part of one of therails 26. The section 35 however is oppositely disposed relative to thesection 25 and the gearing between the bucket and said section 85 is soarranged that when the section 25 is depressed and the bucket dumped,the section will be raised, and vice versa.

These depressibletrack sections are so spaced that the wheels of the twocars, when one section is being deiiressed, will not interfere with thefree co-ordinated raising of the other section. It will therefore beseen that the loading of the cars may be very quickly accomplished,without an attendant being necessary to ha die the dumping mechanism.

1t is only necessary to run the cars onto the dump-controllingrail-section, wait until the buckets have discharge their contents, andthen pull the cars over the bucket-raising rail-section, which operationautomatically places everything in position for another car movement andloading operation.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

`While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as delined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what l claim as new aA d useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a bin, a discharge chute thereunder having an outletat its lower end, a swivelly mounted dumping bucket arranged inconnection with the chute, said bucket when tilted up being positionedto automatically uncover and lie under the out let from the chute,tracks disposed below the level of the bucket, and means between saidtracks and the bucket whereby the weight of a car moving to a pointunder the bucket will automatically cause the latter lo dump.

2. 1n combination, a hin, a discharge chute thereunder having an outletat its lower end, a swivelly mounted dumping bucket ar-V ranged inconnection with the chute, said bucket when tilted up being positionedto automatically uncover and lie underthe outlet from the chute, tracksdisposed below the level of the bucket, means between Vsaid tracks andthe bucket wherebythe weight of a car moving in one direction to a pointunder the bucket will` automatically cause the latter to dump, andfurther means bei tween the track and bucket whereby upon the subsequentmovement of the car the bucket will be tilted up to a loading position.

3. In combination, track meansfor a car, a dumping bucket pivotallymounted on a horizontal axis thereabove, the pivot of the bucket beingso disposed vthat the bucket tends to dump of itself, catch meansnormally holding the bucket from dumping, and means between said trackand catch means whereby the latter will be released by the weight of acar on the track means at a predetermined point. n

4. In combination, track means for a car, a dumping bucket pivotallymounted on a horizontal axis thereabove, the Vpivot of the bucket beingso disposed that the bucket tends to dump of itself, catch meansnormally holding the bucket from dumping, means between said track andcatch means whereby the latter will be released by the weight of a carmoving along the track, means in one direction and arrivingat apredetermined point, and further means between thebucket and track meanswhereby the bucket will be raised with the subsequent movement of thecar-in the opposite direction.

5. In combination, a dumping bucket pivotally mounted on a horizontalaxis, a certain distance above the ground, a member engageable by avehicle wheel mounted adjacent the ground, and means between said memberand the bucket whereby the latter will be dumped when the wheel engagessaid member.

6. In combination, a dumping bucket pivotally mounted on a horizontalaxis, a certain distance abo-ve the ground, depressible members pivotedat one end adjacent the ground in spaced relation to each other andadapted to be alternately depressed by a vehicle wheel, means wherebythe bucket will be dumped when one member is depressed, and raised whenthe other member is subsequently depressed, and means interconnectingsaid members whereby only one at a time will be in a depressibleposition.

7. In combination, a dumping bucket pivotally mounted on a horizontalaxis, a certain distance above the ground, and tending to dump of itsown weight, a catch lug provided with the bucket, releasable meansnormally engaging the lug, a member having a normal upward slant pivotedadjacent the ground and adapted to be. depressed by a vehicle wheel,means between said member and the releasable means whereby the latterwill be released when the member is depressed, a pinion mounted inconnection with the pivot ofthe bucket, a gear meshing with the pinion,an arm projecting from the gear, a depressible member pivoted adjacentthe ground in spaced relation to the irstknamed member and adapted to bedepressed in a like manner, and a connection between said arm and thelast named member, the parts being so arranged that when said last namedmember is depressed the bucket will be raised, and said members being sodisposed that only one at a time is in a depressible position.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

ANTONIO M. GARCIA.

